WWE Royal Rumble Winner’s Circle: Big John Studd (1989)
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With the 2011 Royal Rumble approaching, we found it appropriate to pay homage to those who managed to go over in the 30 man over the top rope classic without their feet hitting the floor.
For the majority of the first golden age of professional wrestling in the WWF, from the late 80′s to early 90′s, time was if you had your moment in the sun, Hulk Hogan was right there to either share or over shadow it. Ric Flair’s Royal Rumble win of ’92, Bret Hart’s first Wrestlemania main event at Wrestlemania IX, and Randy Savage’s Wrestlemania IV Championship victory are all examples of just that.
However this was not the case in Big John Studd’s forgettable Royal Rumble win in 1989. In fact, the roles were reversed.
Hulk Hogan was the star of the Royal Rumble of 1989 in Houston, Texas. Storming into the Summit arena at no. 18, Hogan ran wild eliminating nine superstars by himself and getting help from other Royal Rumble entrants to lay waste to on more (poor Butch Miller).
Perhaps such dominance should have been a dead giveaway that Hogan was not going to win the Royal Rumble that year, and the WWF made sure to keep its biggest star strong (it took two superstars to eventually eliminate him) so that losing the event wouldn’t be as big of a deal.
That, or Hogan crowed that “If I’m going down in the Rumble, I’m taking at least ten guys with me, Brother! Otherwise, find someone else to do the job!”
Big John Studd had a rather lukewarm career in the WWF sprinkled with highlights. His ’89 Royal Rumble win rivals the time he took a body slam from Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania I as his most notable achievement in the WWF.
Like Triple H years after him, less the fanfare, Studd won the Rumble on the strength of a comeback tour that faded to black just moths after he eliminated – wait for it – One Man Gang (also known as Akeem) to win the Royal Rumble.
The lack of follow up for otherwise momentous wins, for guys like Big John Studd and Hacksaw Jim Duggan, necessitated a rule change that would be implemented years after the career contenders earned their respective Royal Rumble wins. The stipulation, instituted starting in the 1993 Royal Rumble, stated that the winner of the Royal Rumble event was to receive a shot at the WWF/E Championship at Wrestlemania.
Despite the bad timing by Studd, in winning the Royal Rumble when he did, Studd still made his presence felt just a few months later at Wrestlemania V where he was the special guest referee for a noteworthy contest between Andre the Giant and Jake “the Snake” Roberts.
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Tags: 1989, Big John Studd, Bret Hart, Houston Texas, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Royal Rumble, Summit Arena, Winners, Wrestlemania, WWE, WWF
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[...] ways, an atonement from his dominating performance the year before that saw perennial mid carder Big John Studd win the event despite Hogan seeking and destroying anything that [...]